Rise of a Superman Death of a Romance
by Traye
Summary: Lana Lang sees Superman for the first time and realizes her Ex-boyfriend Clark Kent is gone from her life for Good.


Valerie was staring at the special order, 70 inch, TV screen when Lana stepped into her office at the Isis Foundation. Val was an excellent assistant, always on time, responsible, orderly and up until this point never asked any questions or snooped. For Lana to find her standing in her usually double locked office was shocking. It was such a blatant breach of trust that she couldn't find the words to chastise the woman.

Val on the other hand didn't move when Lana stepped in. She just stared at the TV from her spot in the middle of the room, her eyes glued to the TV screen, her thin freckled arms crossed defensively on her chest.

"Val what's going on?" Lana asked the woman but Val didn't answer. Lana asked again this time forcefully and authoritatively. "Val. Why are you in here?"

Val finally snapped out it. She ran a long thin finger through her red hair and began to shake her head. "Lana have you been watching the news?"

Lana hadn't watched the news. She'd been locked in her apartment all night pouring over files for her latest Isis foundation project. She hadn't touched a radio, computer or TV all night. On the way into work she listened to her 'Learning a Language' CD's. She was attempting to learn Russian and was failing miserably, it was taking longer than she'd thought.

"No why? What's going on, why aren't you at your desk?" She asked the girl. Val was usually very reliable and if she'd been asked an hour ago she would have bet the foundations yearly budget that the girl would be at her desk typing reports and answering the phone. The last thing she'd have expected to find was the woman invading her office and watching TV.

Val was still shaking her head, her eyes never wavering from the TV. The woman's obsession with the program made Lana curious and she finally turned her own eyes to the screen. Lana squinted when she saw a blur flash across the screen. She squinted her eyes and stared, not sure if she'd seen what she thought.

"Val what is that?" She asked taking a few steps into the room and focusing closely on the screen. The object reappeared on screen this time moving slower. She couldn't make out the figure but it looked like a man. A man in a blue and red outfit with a cape, flying. "What in the world is that?"

"You haven't been watching TV. You're from Metropolis right?"

"Smallville actually." Lana corrected her eyes still glued to the TV screen. The image changed and the flying man was back on camera but this time it was night time and he was holding something over his head. "What is that?"

"A helicopter." Val said still distracted by the TV.

When the photo froze Lana could clearly make out the Daily Planet copter suspended in mid air held up by the man with the cape. He was holding the helicopter in the air with one hand and in another there appeared to be a woman. What in the world was going on?

"Val who is that? What in the world happened last night?" Lana asked. She'd seen many strange things in her life but she'd never seen a man lift a helicopter. Not only that but he was holding it with one hand like it was a ballon on a string. He held a woman in the other hand like a child's toy, and he was flying. Flying? People didn't fly, let alone lift helicopters.

Val answered right away. "It's that superhero guy from Metropolis, The Blur. Last night this helicopter was about to crash and he flew up and caught it. He just picked it out the sky with one hand. This reporter woman fell out the helicopter and he caught her with the other hand. I thought it was a camera trick but he kept on showing up. All night long. He was everywhere. He saved a woman from drowning in her car last night in Paris. He was even in Japan last night."

It felt as if someone sucked the air out of the room. The Blur? She'd followed the Blur on the news along with everyone else these past few years but she'd never actually seen the guy. Nobody had seen him. He only came out at night and stayed pretty close to Metropolis. She'd never heard of him doing something like this. He was always pretty camera shy.

Lana had never been able to confirm it but she'd always believed her ex boyfriend Clark Kent was the Blur. Clark was an alien from a planet called Krypton and his alien status gave him special abilities here on planet Earth. He was strong enough to be the Blur, fast enough, but when he was doing his saving he kept a low profile. He'd personally saved her life a half dozen times over the years without her knowing about it. He would never expose himself like this in front of the world. Besides, she'd never seen him fly. They'd spoken at length about his abilities in the past and flying had never been mentioned.

"Are you sure it's the Blur?" Lana asked, still skeptical. Could she have been wrong all this time in assuming Clark was the Blur? Could it be possible that there was some other hero doing all the saving in Metropolis? Selfless life saving without sticking around for the credit sure sounded like Clark Kent. After all these years of watching the Blur in admiration finding out it was some other guy would be a real downer.

Val nodded. "That woman he saved, she said it was him. She talked to him. People have been trying to interview her all day but she's been locked up in the Daily Planet. She promised an interview for tomorrow's newspaper."

Woman reporter, Daily Planet? Who, surely not that Cat Grant woman. She hated hero's. The only Blur expert at the Daily Planet was Lois.

"Val who is that reporter again."

Val finally pried her eyes away from the TV and turned her attention to Lana's desk. Lana's eyes followed her and saw the neatly folded copy of the LA Times waiting for her inspection on the desk. "It's in the paper. Front page, everybody ran it this morning. I didn't even know newspapers could do that."

Lana didn't want to bother trying to explain the wire service to her assistant and instead grabbed the paper and unfolded it. The article stared her straight in the face. Rise of a Superman: By Lois Lane.

"Oh my God." Lana said as her eyes finally made it to the photo. The S was the first thing she noticed. It was big and proudly displayed on his chest. A bright red S surrounded by a yellow background. The photo was in color and she could see the red and blue outfit and the cape. When she looked at his face and into his eyes she saw the boy next door. Clark Kent. "Oh my God." She repeated.

"Look it's The Blur's funny looking S on his chest. That reporter woman said it was him too. She would know."

"Lois what have you done?" Lana asked herself. It was just like Lois to talk Clark into something like this. It was just like her to talk him into putting himself on display like some circus act. He was on the cover of every newspaper in the country today, probably the world. How could people he knew not look at this picture and see the boy they watched grow up in Smallville. It was clearly Clark Kent. Sure he was wearing his hair different and had some kind of silly suit on but it was him. She'd known Clark her whole life and the fact that this Blur character was him wasn't a question anymore.

Val was staring at her when she finally looked up from the paper. "You know that woman? Lois Lane."

Lana did know Lois. She wished she didn't at this moment though. It took everything in her power to keep from flying back to Metropolis and wringing her neck.

"Yes. Lois and I went to high school together for a while. She's my friend Chloe's cousin. She's dating my ex Clark."

Val almost gasped. "THE, Clark? The one your still in love with? This Lane woman clearly has a thing for this Superman guy maybe you could go get him back."

Lana looked back down at the picture of Clark/Superman. Of course Lois had a thing for him. Look at him. He was gorgeous. Tall, dark, handsome and strong and now he was flying. He was a hard act to replace. She hadn't dated a guy since who could hold a candle to Clark Kent. Every guy she looked at was unjustly compared to this God of a man who could lift cars over his head and bounce bullets off his chest. Critiqued against this hero who showed up at her wedding like some romantic movie character to profess his love for her at the last minute. It was the most romantic thing any man had ever done for her before or since but it hadn't worked. She'd married the guy anyway. Sure, she had her reasons but it hurt him deeply in a way that she knew doomed their romance forever. His love for her made him vulnerable and weak. It had taken her years to realize that fact. That was one of the many reasons she left Metropolis.

She read the byline one more time. Rise of a Superman. That even sounded like Lois. Superman. Of course she had a fancy new name for him. And if she knew Lois the woman wouldn't let Clark go. From the moment she met the woman she'd felt an attraction between the two of them. An undeniable pull between them that made her uncomfortable when she saw them together. Now Lois knew his secret. Not only that but she'd somehow talked him into going public. Clark was on TV flying around lifting helicopters with Lois as his co-pilot.

"Lois will never give Clark up Val. There isn't a man in the world who could pry her away from him. He's gone."

Val turned her head back to the screen. The streak flew by once again and Lana let a single tear roll down her cheek.

"I don't know boss, this Superman guy may be exactly what you were waiting for. He's really cute. If anybody can steal her away from Clark he probably can. This Lois woman may already have a foot out the door. This Superman guy seems like your dream come true to get this Clark guy back."

Lana wiped the tear from her cheek and gained her composure. "Trust me he's gone Val. You just have to know Clark Kent."


End file.
